Reflections on an Ordinary Life explores family relationships, personal transformation and upheaval through an intimate lens and challenges social mores, societal expectations and class structures during the 20th Century.
39 McLellan Street, The Bronx
39 McLellan Street
21 x 29 x 5
Oil Cloth, hand embroidery, photo transfer
A favorite time from my youth was when my father would bring me home Little Lulu Whitman comic books. In this piece I recreate a memory from pages from one of those books, about the bully who took my “baby carriage” while I was walking through the park across the street from our apartment building.
2014
39 McLellan Street
Oil Cloth, hand embroidery, photo transfer detail
39 McLellan Street
Oil Cloth, hand embroidery, photo transfer detail.
More Things to Do
More Things to Do
68 x 24 x6
Vintage Brownie Dress (circa 1949)Polyester fabric, embroidery thread, photo transfer from Brownie Scout Handbook
This piece, with it's oversized Brownie tie, represents the expectations and burdens imposed on girls who were raised in the 1950's.
2011
More Things to Do
Vintage Brownie Dress (circa 1949) detail
The Great Unknown
The Great Unknown
22 x 29
Hand embroidery, Kozo Paper, Boro Boro, photo transfer. 1953 6th Grade photo belonging to the artist.
What lies ahead for a girl graduating from 6th grade in 1953?
2016
I Believe
I Believe
38 x 15
Hand Embroidery, 1953 6th grade autograph book belonging to the artist. hand-dyed cotton, oil cloth
Hopes and dreams for a girl graduating 6th grade in 1953.
c.1962 deconstructed linen wedding dress (belonging to the artist), hand embroidery, photo transfer.
My transformation from a 1950’s housewife in Los Angeles to living in a tipi in the San Cruz Mountains. I embroidered the story on my wedding dress which I deconstructed to represent the damage I did to my marriage in the process.
2013
Self Portrait
c.1962 deconstructed linen wedding dress (belonging to the artist), hand embroidery, photo transfer detail.
2013
Self Portrait
c.1962 deconstructed linen wedding dress (belonging to the artist), hand embroidery detail
2013
Self Portrait Detail
c.1962 deconstructed linen wedding dress (belonging to the artist), hand embroidery detail
2013
pg 165
pg 165
70 x 22 x 20
Vintage 1960’s pattern maternity dress-machine made, hand embroidery, Dr. Benjamin Spock 1960’s “Baby and Child Care”, photo transfer.
When my first born son, Anthony, was 2 years old, Dr. Spock's, Baby and Child Care was the mother’s bible. On pg. 165, he said “never allow your children to sleep in your bed". One night, I walked my 2 year old son back to his own bed 41 times, completely against my natural instinct.
2013
pg 165
Pattern maternity dress-machine made, hand embroidery detail.
2013
pg 165
Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care shredded pages detail.
2013
"You look Fat"
"You look Fat"
10 x 11 x 6
Hand embroidery, applique on vintage girdle
As long as I can remember I had a belly! In Junior High my girlfriends rang our door bell and ran away, leaving a girdle on my doorstep.
“You look fat”, he said when I put on my bikini at the beginning of summer. Not long after I read an interview in the National Enquirer with Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru. It said, “the new diet craze is throwing up after you eat”, adding “it was good for your stomach muscles.”
Bingo!
2016
"You look Fat"_back
"You look fat", he said when I put on my bikini at the beginning of summer. Not long after I read an interview in the National Enquirer with Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru. It said, "the new diet craze is to throw up after you eat", adding, "it was good for your stomach muscles".
Bingo!
Sequestered
Sequestered
70 x 8
Hand embroidery, photo transfer, antiseptic wipes, ribbon
April 2020 is poetry month. While sequestered at home during that month, to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, my cousin, sisters and granddaughter exchanged *Haikus each morning by email. I chose one Haiku from each of us to create my Sequestered prayer flag.
*A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.
2020
Detail
Haiku Poema
Missing Part 1 & II (with Freya Abrams)
Missing Part 1 & II
30 x 72
Hand embroidery, photo transfer (Pancreatic Beta Cells)
Dedicated to my brave, strong and beautiful Granddaughter Freya and to finding a cure for Type 1 Diabetes in my lifetime!
2020
Detail
Missing Part II
30 x 35
Hand embroidery, photo transfer
2021
I hand embroidered Freya’s drawings documenting her journey with Type 1 diabetes (Age 8-10 years old)
